1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to traffic control systems, and more particularly to air traffic control systems.
2. Related Art
Operations in conventional traffic control centers, such as, e.g., primary flight control on an aircraft carrier, airport control towers, and rail yard control towers, are severely impacted by reduced visibility conditions due to fog, rain and darkness, for example. Traffic control systems have been designed to provide informational support to traffic controllers.
Conventional traffic control systems make use of various information from detectors and the objects being tracked to show the controller where the objects are in two dimensional (2D) space. For example, an air traffic control center in a commercial airport, or on a naval aircraft carrier at sea, typically uses a combination of radar centered at the control center and aircraft information from the airplanes to show the controller on a 2D display, in a polar representation, where the aircraft are in the sky. Unfortunately, unlike automobile traffic control systems which deal with two dimensional road systems, air traffic adds a third dimension of altitude. Unfortunately, conventional display systems are two dimensional and the controller must mentally extrapolate, e.g., a 2D radar image into a three dimensional (3D) representation and also project the flight path in time in order to prevent collisions between the aircraft. These radar-based systems are inefficient, however, at collecting and conveying three or more dimensional data to the controller.
Conventional systems offer means to communicate with the individual aircraft, usually by selecting a specific communication channel to talk to a pilot in a specific airplane. This method usually requires a controller to set channels up ahead of time, for example, on an aircraft carrier. If an unknown or unanticipated aircraft enters the control space, the control center may not be able to communicate with it.
What is needed then is an improved system of traffic control that overcomes shortcomings of conventional solutions.